Amazon sets Sept. 6 event; what will it announce?

Amazon sent out an event invitation Thursday, which may mean a new Kindle device is on its way.

The Seattle company scheduled the event for Sept. 6 in Santa Monica at 10:30 a.m.

Speculation among tech observers is that it could be a sequel to the Kindle Fire 7-inch tablet that came out last November but was announced in September. Google launched its Nexus 7 tablet last month and Apple is widely expected to soon enter the 7-inch tablet game with an iPad mini.

But the Fire isn't the only Kindle Amazon sells, and there have been some hints that the company could refresh multiple devices or even introduce some new ones.

Back in July, Staples President Demos Parneros said he expected Amazon to come out with five or six new Kindle devices, including a 10-inch model. If that turns out to be true, it could be in the form of a larger version of the Kindle Fire to compete with the iPad.

Speculation on this was fueled two weeks ago when Amazon reduced the price of its 9.7-inch Kindle DX by $110.

But Kindles haven't been the only topic of speculation.

When Amazon purchased a 3-D mapping start-up this summer and then hired a former Microsoft phone executive., it led to rumors that the company would bring out its own smartphone.